


Are You Still In Pain?

by Mirai_Kako



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Betrayal, Crying, Feelings, Heavy Angst, M/M, there's like one curse word
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:47:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25779943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mirai_Kako/pseuds/Mirai_Kako
Summary: “For once, I’m not crying alone...”A heavy defeat makes a heavy heart and words can absolutely crush you in more ways than one. An experience Hop feels on a rainy day from someone he thought he could trust.
Relationships: Hop/Masaru | Victor
Comments: 4
Kudos: 55





	Are You Still In Pain?

Dark grey clouds enveloped the sky as light drops of waters fell from them, becoming heavier with every passing minute. In a sudden downpour like this, Hop would be scurrying to the nearest hotel, that being the one over in Motostoke this time around. Instead, he was breathing heavily while sitting on the floor, hands and other parts of his body covered in mud; Duffel bag thrown to the side not far from where he sat, it’s contents spilled out on the dirt floor and had begun to get soaked in the rain. 

Hop’s body shook tremendously from the painful aftershock that was throbbing through his mind and through his heart. He snapped his head upward to the figure looming in front of him, eyes shaking in fear. She looked so familiar; she was familiar to him. The dark green tam o’ shanter on top of her head, the grey hoodie that covered up her magenta dress and the brown boots she wore. It was all so familiar but when he looked up at her face, that familiarity tore itself up into bits and pieces. 

The bright smile Hop remembers was no longer there and was replaced with a deep frown instead. The usual light, soft brown eyes that always seemed to gleem in the day were now seemingly cold and hard, as if they were stabbing daggers into Hop’s soul. Hop let out a small whimper out of fear, gripping the ground as the mud and dirt scraped underneath his fingers. He saw the girl part her lips, as if about to say something.

Instead, she stayed silent and turned her back to Hop before walking off, pulling out an umbrella from her bag in the process. All Hop could do was watch as the girl got farther and farther away, his heart feeling like it was beating out of his chest. He tried to calm his heavy breathing but instead choked on the tears he felt starting to form. He wanted to reach out and yell out the girl's name, but even the thought of her name felt unreal to him.

G-Gloria…? No…

That’s not who she is to Hop anymore. 

Hop shut his eyes and let his head hang low, his body trembling as he cried silently. Unconsciously, he started rubbing his palms harshly against the ground, scrapping them against the rough dirt to the mud that was forming more and more from the falling rain. Pain shot up his arm and he knew his mind was giving him red flags to stop, but he kept going nevertheless. He had to feel some pain, any pain, to atone for what had just happened. The words he had heard kept repeating over and over in his head until it became white noise.

It was his fault wasn’t it? He was the one who annoyed Gloria so much to the point that she finally must have snapped right? He was the cocky bastard that kept saying he was going to be Galar’s next champion after he beats his brother, Leon. Even after his fight with Bede, he still thought that way even though bad thoughts had started to conjure up in his mind. He grasped onto that goal like his life depended on it, and it honestly does, doesn’t it? Yet, what he was grasping onto the whole time was false hope. 

Hop’s mind wandered back to Gloria again. Did he really make her snap, or was she always like this in the beginning, setting up a fake mask to cover up how utterly pathetic she thought Hop was. Every word she had said to him pierced through him, way harder than the words he had heard from Bede. Did it hurt more because he grew up with Gloria and her brother and he always thought the both of them would be by his side to support him no matter what happens? It had to be… He can usually take a little hate from other people, as much as it did pain him a bit, but Gloria saying the mean things that felt very true destroyed Hop.

“Fuck!” Hop felt himself yell out, throwing himself back, not caring for the fact that his entire back and hair was gonna be coated with mud and dirt. He had stopped scraping his hands against the floor and they felt extremely numb, occasionally twitching from the aftershocks of pain. His body shivered in the cold yet the tears that accumulated from the edges of his eyes and had been falling down his face felt searing hot. 

He took in a heavy shaky breath, trying to relax his body on the ground despite it’s roughness. The rain had picked up tremendously and was pouring over Hop like a cold shower. Hop felt his face relax a bit and even though the tears kept coming, he gently made a sad smile before whispering out, “For once, I’m not crying alone…” He wanted to laugh at himself for saying something so dumb, but nothing came out of it.

As much as he wanted to stay lying down on the ground basking in the heavy rain and as much as his heavy worn down heart wanted to stay put, Hop proceeded to sit up. His teeth chattered, now feeling a huge cold wave wash over him and he felt extremely tired, his vision blurry from the tears that were starting to slow down. He got up shakily, planning on just grabbing his stuff, that most definitely had to be soaking wet by now, and just find a good tree to spend the night at instead of going to the hotel. Yet, as he got up, he slipped on the mud below him.

And he felt himself start to fall. 

Panic

That was the first emotion that had enveloped Hop’s mind as he fell.

He wasn’t aware of surroundings and that was leading him to his doom wasn’t it? He wanted to scream, but nothing came out. The tears that Hop swore he had stopped had come back and were falling from his eyes and into the open air above him. Then suddenly they disappeared and his eyesight became foggy, the sounds of the heavy rain becoming muffled as his ears and his body as a whole was engulfed in water. What Hop mainly heard was the heavy beating of his heart as his lungs felt like they were on fire all of a sudden. 

He began to choke on the water and despite his weakened state, he tried to swim back up to the surface of the water. Every part of his body was screaming in pain but he didn’t care and kept going. The thought of ‘I don’t wanna die’ kept repeating itself inside his head as he swam. Soon enough, he popped his head out of the water and took a deep breath which he choked on. Keeping himself afloat, Hop aggressively coughed out the water that he was feeling in his throat. 

Once he finished his coughing fit, he took in some breaths of air, this time not so deep and looked up. He noticed that where he was before was right next to a big cliff that luckily had a lake at the bottom. If there wasn’t a lake down here, Hop would have… He breathed out a laugh that was definitely directed at himself, his thoughts spinning as he glanced down at the water. ‘I actually thought I was going to die…’ Hop covered up his pain with a small smile despite being alone.

Or so he thought. 

“Hop!”

A voice, one of familiarity but this time a comforting type, called out to Hop from above. He shot his head up again to see who it was. He felt that small smile fade away and the first thing he wanted to do was bury himself under the water so he could drown. As much as Hop hated being alone like this, he didn’t want anyone that he felt actually cared for him take pity on him. The way the boy's brown eyes were widened in fear impaled itself like a sword to the heart, that being Hop’s heart. 

Hop proceeded to watch the boy run down the hill next to the cliff that led to a shore by the lake. As much as he didn’t want to face the boy, Hop slowly swam over to that shore. Once reaching the land, Hop crawled his way out of the water and heaved out numerous breaths while on his knees and arms. “Victor… Why are you- here…” Hop coughed out. His body felt like it was about to give out, aching and shivering tremendously. 

Not getting an answer, Hop felt Victor place a hand on his back and start rubbing circles on his back. “I should be asking you that. What happened, Hop?” Victor’s voice was filled with worry and that just filled Hop even more with guilt. He glanced over to Victor and noticed his bag sitting next to Victor and glancing up higher, he saw Victor’s worried expression as he held his umbrella in his left hand, the other still rubbing Hop’s back. 

“I… Nothing… I-I just slipped since I was rushing to Motostoke due to the rain… That’s all.” Hop averted his gaze from Victor as he got up a bit, laying his hands onto his lap as he sat on his knees and the balls of his feet. He looked back up at Victor and the other looked convinced at first until Hop noticed Victor’s eyes widen when he looked down at Hop’s lap. “Hop-! Your hands!” Victor gasped out, taking hold of both of Hop’s hands so he can get a better look at them, nearly dropping his umbrella in the process. 

Hop hissed in pain, clenching his eyes shut. He felt the grip on his hands loosen a bit, but Victor still held onto them either way. Hop slowly opened his eyes one by one and decided to take a look at his own hands himself and arceus, they looked horrible. Mud, dirt and even blood laid upon his hands, multiple scratches covering his palms and fingers, the ones at his palms causing most of the blood and extremely stinging pain. 

“Hop, how did this happen?!” Victor’s voice was strained with concern and Hop flinched a bit. “I- tried to catch myself so I wouldn’t fall but I couldn’t… stop myself…” Hop barely added an ‘I guess’ at the end of that, which would have definitely blown his cover. Despite Victor’s face that looked as if he didn’t believe Hop entirely, he let out a soft sigh. “Here, let’s get out of this rain okay?” Victor let go of Hop’s hands as he slowly got up, grabbing and slinging Hop’s bag around his shoulder. After getting up he kneeled down a bit and grabbed Hop by the arm, helping him get up as well.

Despite Hop overall feeling weak and his entire body ached from head to toe, he was still able to at least get up on the two shaky sticks he calls legs. Neither of them said another word and Victor kept his soft grip on Hop’s arm as he led Hop through the wild area for a bit, keeping Hop under the umbrella with him. It didn't take long 'till they came across a tree with thick leaves covering it’s branches. The ground underneath the tree was nearly all dry and Victor knew this would be a good spot to set up his tent. 

He led Hop to the base of the tree and asked Hop to sit down here while he set up the tent, which Hop did so despite wanting to hesitate. The two were silent for the most part as Victor started setting up the tent, the heavy pattering of the rain filling Hop’s ears. ‘Why is Victor even helping me in the first place… He must be thinking the same way Gloria thinks of me, right..? Arceus I don’t even know anymore, I wish I had drowned instead so I wouldn’t have all these stupid conflicting thoughts..’ Hop’s mind was a clutter that he nearly banged the back of his head against the tree when he felt Victor put a hand on his shoulder, which snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Hop, Can I... see your hands again please..?” Victor asked softly and Hop just nodded in response, putting out his hands in front of Victor. Across the next ten minutes or so, Victor treated Hop's wounds, Hop hissing every now and then from the sheer pain he felt. Victor wasn’t the best of treating wounds, or at least he thought so, but even he surprised himself at how quickly he was able to treat and bandage Hop’s hands. Hop tried to move his bandaged fingers a bit and flinched slightly. 

“A-are you still in pain? I’m sorry, I’m not the best at treating wounds or bandaging or just-” Hop cut Victor off before he could continue derailing his work. “No it’s okay, you did an amazing job. I- Thank you… so much…” Hop whispered that last part, shyly looking away as a small blush appeared on his face. A part of him still felt guilty, but he also felt his heart flutter a bit as well. The fact that Victor went out of his way to help Hop made him so happy for some reason.

“Hey, Hop?” Victor broke the small awkward silence between the two and Hop perked his head up to look up Victor. “It’s getting late.. If you want, you can sleep with me tonight in my tent. Um…” Victor himself gave a shy look but decided to continue on. “Most of your clothes that were in your bag are wet so… You can borrow some of mine for the night… so that yours can dry… if you want!” Victor said that part a little bit loudly and despite his shy state, he kept his head held up to look at Hop.

Hop felt his eyes widen a bit as the small blush from before grow and if he could, he would have hid his face in his hands. Instead he glanced down and stuttered out, “I-I’m okay with that…” The two boys took no action after that for a minute until Victor finally broke the silence. “Well, then- I can help you get dressed for the night if that’s okay.. And I’ll just hang up your wet clothes so hopefully they can dry at least somewhat overnight.” Hop gave a soft smile towards Victor and responded, “Yeah… I’m fine with that.” Victor got up from his crouched position and gave his own soft smile to Hop as he helped the other get up before they made their way to the tent.

And Hop felt his heart warm up like never before in his life.

**Author's Note:**

> Wasn't sure if I wanted to post this or not but in the end, decided to do so  
> Even tho I swear I read through it so many times, I'm sure there's a mistake somewhere but at this point I'm too tired to give it another read which is why I wasn't sure if I should post it hah  
> Anyways hope you liked it, maybe I'll write a follow up and I swear I'll post Chapter 2 to one of my other stories soon aaaaa


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